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What price does a refugee pay to reach Europe?

Document number
1952
Date
2008
Title
What price does a refugee pay to reach Europe?
Author/publisher
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis, Training Material/Resources,
Keywords
Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour; Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Restrictive migration measures,
Summary
In December 2007 ECRE published a major report showing that the arsenal of border controls deployed at the EU borders creates the risk of refoulement when refugees are excluded from entering the territory and gaining access to a fair and efficient asylum procedure. ECRE, through its member agencies across Europe, has now collected a number of refugee stories. These stories demonstrate the devastating impact that restrictions to access have on people’s lives. The testimonies below have been grouped into four recurring themes: dangerous journeys, human rights violations in transit countries, abuses suffered at the EU borders and denial of access to the asylum procedure. These voices are strong evidence of the urgent need to reverse the direction of EU migration control policies in order to defend refugees’ access to protection in Europe. All the stories have been anonymised to protect identities.
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